O/T $8 Screws and $12 paint

I went to my friendly not so local AGCO dealer to pick up some parts I needed for my carburator. I had taken off the carburator to my ferguson and some how lost the four screws and the spring. I also since I primed the carburetor decided to pick up a can of flint metalic grey for the heck of it.

I figured the spring would cost the arm and a leg...nope.

Each of those screws from AGCO cost 8 bucks. Thats right $32 for four little screws. That can of paint, 12 bucks.

When I get the total $53 bucks that included the shipping (which I was fine with paying that...its a given these days.) I go to the parts guy you gotta be kidding me. Thats when he told me the unit price and he chuckled.

I realize the laws of supply and demand...I"m taking microeconomics this summer, but how can AGCO justify charging such a high price to cause the dealer to mark it up to 8/screw and with that paint when it was 7 bucks last year!!!

I don"t see how I could be able to afford repainting my tractor using OEM paint - if a can is 12 what could a quart or a gallon be?

I"m only 24 and you know if this is the wave of the future its going to be a sad one for me and my posterity.

I know alot of you think people shouldn"t complain about the cost of parts because they"re availble for machines that are generations old, but its a joke. Even if fuel has caused the almost two fold increase in price for that paint, how can anyone justify its cost at 12 bucks a can? .

thanks for letting me sound off.

Christos

It's everywhere. Car parts, tractor parts, home depot and lowes stuff, everything. Yes, I am 22 and all I feel like doing is buying junk and fixing it up with the things I can buy and leave it at that. I'm a college student too, so, go figure, i'm in twice the amount of debt.

Hey there Rob;
Myself, the first thing I think you should do is
send a letter to the main office,don't forget to
give the store number. I believe you haven't been "screwed", you have been "raped"!! What were those screw's made of, "GOLD"??? They
shouldn't have cost more than about $1.50 ea,
at the most $2.50.ea. You should be able to buy
a can (spray) at your local hardware store for
at the most about $5.00.
Bob
God Bless

Hang on to your shorts guys. When I started driving I was paying $.62 a gallon for gas and .$.50 a pack for Marlboro red hardpacks (and smokers wern't second class slime). Minimum wage was $2.75 and hour and an expensive night out was 10 bucks. Lawsuits were something big companies did and college educations were for people with money and inhabitions about working with their backs and hands. If it makes you feel any better, I just bought 2 cans of Deere muffler black for a measily 16 bucks a can. Things will come to a screeching halt pretty soon. Glad I learned all the things I have in the past 48 years, there's a lot of people that didn't and they will have to pay somebody to have the work done.

That is the flagship dealership and the owners were right there. I'm not saying who it is out of respect for them, but I agree I thought those screws were going to be three bucks a pop at best. Not eight. ACGO will be getting a letter from me.

Every stupid thing has gone up. I have a JD FB drill that i've been trying to rehab as well - the grain feed doors went from 10 bucks to 15 bucks over the last three years. a single seed boot was 90 now is 110 when I checked a few months ago.

I'm honestly disgusted. You should know its bad when a cashier (me for example) gets sticker shock.

Christos

Welcome to the 70s for those that didn't live thru it.Stagflation was the term slow economy with lots of inflation and we're just getting started.

If you know what the screws are in terms of thread pitch and diam. then you could get them at a hardware store and pay a lot less. Inflation sucks because the dollars worth has gone way down, and oil way up because of it.
Being a smart shopper is the best thing you can do. I just paid $7 for a little spray can of black last week, I thought it was high but I needed it. when you say $12 are talking about the small spray cans?

on you and MAKE you pay those prices? if not you have only yourself to blame about being raped.

The cost of your education has gone up.

Gouging. The dollar hasn't tanked, fuel is up only a dollar, so there isn't a reason to charge a 1000% mark up on a screw.

Spray paint can still be found for a buck a can.Paint wont last long on a carberator anyway.The screws are 10x24 fillister head screws,they give a screwdriver more purchase than a round head screws.Take one of your 8.00 screws down to the hardware store.Buy some extras ,put them in a jar with a paper to ID them.They have some odd stuff in those pullout boxes.I buy hardware I use often at salvage stores at 2 to 3.00 a hundred.I use a lot of pop rivets and 10x24 screws and nuts that I dont charge the customers for.If I take a carb apart I use a beer flat that will keep parts from rolling off the bench.If a job is interrupted I put a item ia a large coffee can.I would expect to pay less than 8.00 for a box of 100 carb screws.When I run into nutty pricing I dont buy,find the item elswhere.Fellow I know refused to pay 120.00 for a small tractor part at the dealer.A friend gave him the part.

"That is the flagship dealership and the owners were right there. I"m not saying who it is out of respect for them" Is this the same ones who goughed you? And you have such respect for them?? You are a much better man than I. TDF

You young guys better learn to make do, scrounge and cobble. You probably could have found those screws elsewhere or made some yourself. Find some old Mechanics Illustrated/Popular Science type mags from the 20's, 30's, 40's and you'll see what making do was. You can make or get a small lathe and a tap and die set and save a lot of bucks. Better learn now cause it's getting worse.

dealers will have to justify the crazy prices they want for tractors, vehicles and such by charging idiot prices for parts as well.

i needed 18 6 mm hoseclamps for my 6.5 diesel injector return lines,where 7 bucks a piece at the dealer for total of 126 bucks.I gave him the finger,picked up big handfull at local wrecking yard for free.

Look and you will find

I guess I started workong a few years before you. I got 1.35 hr, and gas was around .32 gal Stan

The normal sized spray can. As for the others I did try and go elsewhere for those carb parts...NAPA, ACE, TSC. If it wasn't for the fact I have to get the ferguson working finally I would have gone to fastenall.

So in a ways speaking I didn't have many options as to source them.

And not to totally go on the defensive I have made do and farmerized a few things like when they sent me the wrong harness I kit bashed the old one and the new one to make it work.

Christos

BTW the packaging for the screws was for the heritage parts. I think thats how they nail you - changing the packaging for the same product.

It's just like FUEL...Gas is No diferent than it ever has been,... It is Just that EVERY ONE uses it and They ( The Gas Companys)know that "WE" will pay whatever it cost to RRRRIDE!!KF4LKU Larry

I guess I started working before you also because $.50 was a working wage and gas was $.10. I can remember my dad giving me a buck and told me to fill the car. Would pull in, flash the dollar bill and say 10 gal please. Henry

Fastenal carries those screws --the last I got was 100 for around the thirty dollar mark. They only cover five different sizes, and not sure if they have yours. At that price I would be tempted to return four to your dealer out of the fastenal box. That may cause alot of return cost / hastle, but that is down right dishonest what they are doing to you.

We probably need a law.........at the Federal level......to regulate prices; call your Congressman.

Well, price for a gallon of Argent Silver from an Agco dealer was less than $60. I think it was around $55. Picked it up 2 weeks ago.

Donovan from Wisconsin

What was so special about the screws? Are you talking the screws that hold the top of the carb to the bowl? If so they are most likely 10-24's or 10-32's that most any good hardware store will have for about 50 cents a piece. The head might not be the same but who care unless you are doing a concorse restore and then you pays your money.

Kent

I can honestly understand anyone's frustration with prices like these, absolutely nothing wrong there.

It seems today, you just have to shop the simplest of things, yet when you have something apart and want to finish the job, these people have you by the proverbial buyers go nads !

I can relate to replacing parts, I used to do a lot of that, it was easier, not costly for most things and you were done, though my good friends father was a long time rebuilder of things, I saw enough things rebuilt that also came back to haunt them, or did not solve the problem, where replacing a part would have. Over the years you learn a lot and gain a lot of experience, now I feel as though I could fix most anything, but when younger some of the same things were kind of intimidating, eventually your mind expands a little, it really helps, that and a 2nd set of eyes/hands, also helps.

Well I still try to replace parts, but as one ages, your fabricating skills and mechanical imagination grows to your advantage, and it can really pay off today, something you should always keep an open mind about. No, I don't like a cob job, but to get by sometimes you have to, then do the job right when you can, preferrably you do that first as much as possible, but we all know how that can go sometimes. So many times I go to spend money and re-think the situation, might not have to spend that money.

Identify what you need and shop same, fasteners are something I don't toss out, even if worn or not like new, older fasteners are not of questionable quality like today. Getting fasteners like those from a dealer is a mistake sometimes, we had a ford dealership and kept a large stock of a wide range of fasteners, they were inexpensive but a necessary stock, I still have a 5 gallon pail full from our old bins + other assortments and they do get used.

Critique: we can be our own worst enemy, don't lose parts, work neat and orderly no matter where you are, get yourself some ice cream containers, you know the round paper ones, or some other similar things, containers, loose parts go in there, write down and tag what it is, it pays to work neat.

Ok, sh$t still happens, get yourself a thread guage, the neatest little tool I ever found on e-bay was this Miller Falls Co. #135 thread pitch gauge, in your case you just ID the threads in the hole, then the length and you know what you need, dealer has you if you need finish the job, but knowing what you need, go shop it, a grade 8 or high quality bolt is probably not required for a carb, though the fastener head might need to be specific, thread lenght might also be specific, chances are someone had those on the shelf, even HD or Lowes, TSC, the paint well, not much you can do there.

I got nailed a couple of years ago with an impco vaporizer rebuild kit, $165.00 at forklift repair outfit, same one was on ebay for $18.00 I think might have been $28.00, yeah grab yer ankles on that one.... tractor was down and I needed it. weekend etc.... yup, just reach down a little further !!! Had no choice, though I called the owner told him what I thought, but in a civilized manner, wsa just business as usual to them. I had to go next door, to the welding supply outfit, whom I steered many thousands of dollars of business to, new miller NT 250 trailblazers, burning rigs, all kinds of new equipment, supplies, electrode by 50 lb containers, lots of purchases for several years, well that don't mean shite anymore ! Because the forklift place nailed me for $165, I had $166 in my pocket, $1 left, I need a pair of gasket and o-rings for (2) 30 lb forklift tanks that I got from this same welding supply/compressed gas supply houses, trying to insure my fuel system was totally rebuilt here and safe, well the guy at the counter says I don't know, going to have to charge you for those, I told him what happened, not a question of the money, just got cleaned out....well ummmm.... listen jack@ss, you seem to forget all the sales and business I did with you guys (I used to work in heavy commercial construction, not just home fab supplies), I hammered them, you want to charge for o-rings for your own gol derned tanks ??, they are your tanks....... yeah uh...... ok...... that was just a nice hot afternoon to enjoy dealing with people, made sure to mention this to the owner there too. I guess I don't understand why business's do what they do, know that everything has gone up, but sometimes they treat you like an enemy when you walk in the door.

Turn in a set of license plates in NY, ha ha, even if they owe you a credit on your registration, you still pay them $1 each pair, no matter what you do today, be prepared to pay !

I needed parts for a Husqvarna tiller. A shoulder bolt and rubber grommet were $7.62, shipping and handling was $10.00, and if I wanted a nut and lock washer they were another $8.00. If I can't find the nut and lock washer in a jar on the workbench I'll just pick them up for $.89 a pound at TSC.

I may have to pay their price for a special bolt, but no way am I paying those prices standard items. Of course, maybe they don't want to bother with nuts so they price them high enough that we will buy them somewhere else.

We probably need a law.........at the Federal level......to regulate prices; call your Congressman.

Boy there's a way to ensure prices go through the roof!